UP Dreams: It All Started With a Trip to Duluth--Ode to Lake Superior

It started with a trip to Duluth.

Being from Iowa, I had no idea.

In Iowa, going to a great lake means Spirit Lake or Okoboji.

Total square miles of the two lakes....between 10 and 11 square miles.

Lake Superior...something between 31 and 32 THOUSAND square miles.

I had no idea.

Fast forward 25 years or so.

I still have no idea.

I have experienced Lake Superior from Duluth. From driving up the north shore. From taking a circle tour of the whole lake. From spending time on beaches. From going out in a boat a handful of times. I have only just begun to experience this mighty inland sea. And all I know is, from that first moment of coming over a hill approaching Duluth, and seeing it stretch out in from of me to the horizon, and far, far, beyond, that I was in awe, and in love.

People who have seen it understand. People who haven't seen it...need to rectify that situation sometime.

Obviously there are many awesome bodies of water to visit, other great lakes...and many people, even those of us "in the middle" spend time visiting one ocean or another.

But I think Lake Superior is unique. It is a cold pristine mystery. Its depth and clarity call to us to enter, but its icy coldness keeps us away. It has been conquered by millions of crossings, yet still remains dangerous and untamed. It is an ever-changing landscape of every shade from black to steely gray to clear primary blue, deep reddish brown to turquoise to jewel green.

Its beaches can be smooth fine sand, small pebbles to huge boulders, to solid flows of ancient lava. To enter the water, you may be able to step smoothly from the beach into a gentle infinity pool, you might plunge several feet into deceptively clear water, or else it might require rappelling down the side of a palisade of rock a hundred feet tall to get to the shoreline below. There can be waves tall enough to test the most accomplished surfer, or a glass-like calm that reflects the clouds as a mirror.

The amazing thing is, one doesn't have to wait a lifetime to experience all these things. The waterscape is as changeable as the weather that surrounds it, which all the people here can tell you is a fickle beast from day to day, or minute to minute.

Because even if you never visit the shore, your life will affected by the massive body of water and its temperature changes. You may experience moderate winter temperatures even though the weather further inland is much more harsh. You will learn to take in stride an everyday snowfall, or a frequent fall of a foot or even two. On the other hand, while people are sweating an occasional ninety degree day in early summer, you will be able to enjoy nature's air conditioning in the breezes off the water, and may be able to find a piece of ice still floating in towards shore.

See...I know all these things, and nothing.

I've never yet taken a real swim in the cold water depths.

I haven't dipped my net for smelt, drilled a hole in the ice, or thrown a hook for any of the other seventy or so species of fish that have been found in the lake.

I haven't made jewelry from agates or beach glass that I've discovered along the shore, even though I have thrown and collected my share of pebbles and driftwood.

I haven't watched spring or fall migrations of birds from Whitefish Point.

I've only seen Pictured Rocks in pictures.

I can count the number of lighthouses I've seen on two hands.

Basically I am a newbie.

But I have now seen the shoreline in spring, summer, fall and winter.

yes...

ice in LATE spring

summer

fall

actually still fall

and the start of the long winter

I have watched eagles and tundra swans sunning themselves on the ice.

I have watched the ice build up, and go away.

I have received as initiation bites and stings of mosquitoes, flies and no-see-ums while walking on the shore. :)

I have watched a bridge go up and down and allow thousand foot ships into harbor.